{"product_id":"dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-2-5-chassis","title":"Dell PowerEdge R730 8-Bay 2.5\" Drives [13th Gen]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe refurbished Dell PowerEdge R730 8-Bay 2.5\" is the balanced, general-purpose member of Dell's 13th-generation 2U dual-socket family: eight 2.5\" hot-swap front bays paired with the full 2U budget of PCIe slots, GPU support, and power. It was one of the most widely deployed servers of its generation, and it is the R730 we recommend by default when the goal is a dependable virtualization or application host rather than maximum drive density.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe eight-bay front is the point of this build. Fewer active drives than the 16-Bay means lower power and thermal load, which leaves more headroom for a GPU, extra NICs, or a storage HBA in the 2U chassis. Against the 1U R630, the R730 gives you the slots and PSU range that 1U cannot. Against the 16-Bay, it gives you a lower cost of entry and an easier thermal budget. If you need many spindles per node, the 16-Bay is the better tool; for most everyday workloads, eight fast SFF bays is the right amount of storage and the rest of the chassis goes to expansion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRefurbished here means rebuilt and proven. Every R730 we ship is assembled to your spec and runs a 12+ hour burn-in across every memory channel, every PCIe slot, and every drive bay, and it carries a 180-day warranty with 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year options that cover the period past Dell ProSupport. To talk through a build, call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhen 8 Bays Is the Right Default\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the chassis we reach for first on the R730 platform. Eight SFF bays cover the overwhelming majority of general-purpose virtualization, application-server, and infrastructure roles without paying for density you will not use. Where the 8-Bay earns its place over the rest of the family:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgainst the high-density build, it costs less and runs cooler, freeing PCIe and thermal headroom for a GPU or extra adapters. If you need more spindles, move to the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-16-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 16-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e, the primary R730 page for dense-SSD configurations.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgainst the 1U platform, it adds up to 7 PCIe slots, GPU support, and higher-wattage PSUs. The 1U \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r630-10-bay-chassis\"\u003eR630 10-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the companion when rack-density is the design driver and you do not need expansion.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf your storage need is bulk spinning-disk capacity rather than SSD bays, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 8-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e takes large LFF NL-SAS drives instead.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe platform underneath is the same across the family: dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 or v4, 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, PERC 13th-gen RAID, iDRAC8, and PCIe Gen3. What this page changes is the framing: eight bays, single PERC by default, and a chassis with room to expand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eStorage - 8 SFF Bays\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEight 2.5\" SAS\/SATA hot-swap front bays, fed by a single PERC controller in the standard build. This is plenty of flash for a general-purpose host, and the single-controller layout keeps the configuration simple. Common builds we ship:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e2 SSD boot mirror plus 6 SSD data:\u003c\/strong\u003e the volume production VM-host layout. A mirrored boot pair up front, the rest in a RAID 6 or RAID 10 data set.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIDSDM boot plus 8 SSD data:\u003c\/strong\u003e hypervisor-only build that keeps all eight bays for data. The R730 has no BOSS card, so IDSDM is how we free the front bays on ESXi nodes.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e8x 1.92 TB SAS SSD:\u003c\/strong\u003e roughly 11 TB usable at RAID 6 with a hot spare. A strong, well-rounded virtualization datastore.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e8x 3.84 TB SAS SSD:\u003c\/strong\u003e a higher-capacity datastore, around 23 TB usable at RAID 6 with a hot spare.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMixed tier:\u003c\/strong\u003e a boot mirror, a few SAS SSDs for hot data, and a couple of SAS HDDs for cold or log data.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe front backplane is SAS and SATA only, with no native front-bay NVMe on this platform. If you want NVMe, it comes as a PCIe add-in card, which the 2U slot budget makes practical. For dense SSD beyond eight bays use the 16-Bay, and for spinning-disk capacity use the LFF 8-Bay 3.5\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eStorage Controllers\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe R730 runs the Dell PERC 13th-generation family from the integrated Mini Mono slot. On an eight-bay build a single controller fronts all eight drives, so controller choice is about cache and workload rather than splitting the array:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H730P (2 GB cache, battery-backed):\u003c\/strong\u003e our production default for write-intensive or transactional local storage.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H730 (1 GB cache, battery-backed):\u003c\/strong\u003e a budget step down for read-heavy or modest-write arrays.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H330 (no cache):\u003c\/strong\u003e entry-tier hardware RAID for light workloads only.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHBA330 (pass-through):\u003c\/strong\u003e for software-defined storage stacks (vSAN, Storage Spaces Direct, Ceph, ZFS) that want raw disks.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePERC H830 (2 GB cache):\u003c\/strong\u003e for external SAS JBOD enclosures, which the 2U PCIe budget accommodates alongside production NICs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not quote the S130 software-RAID option for production; it is a chipset-level dev and test feature. The 8 GB-cache H740P is a 14th-gen R740 part and does not run on this platform, so H730P is the top of the cache ladder here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eProcessors\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDual-socket LGA 2011-3, running Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 (Haswell-EP, 2014) or E5-2600 v4 (Broadwell-EP, 2016), drop-in compatible in the same sockets. Core counts run from 4 up to 22, with TDPs up to 145 W. For a balanced 8-bay host we size to the workload rather than the drive count:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eE5-2640 v4 (10C) or E5-2650 v4 (12C):\u003c\/strong\u003e the sensible middle for general virtualization and app serving.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eE5-2680 v4 (14C \/ 2.4 GHz \/ 120 W):\u003c\/strong\u003e the workhorse when consolidation ratio matters, and our most common recommendation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eE5-2697 v4 (18C) or E5-2699 v4 (22C):\u003c\/strong\u003e for dense consolidation or compute-bound hosts.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eE5-2620 v4 (8C):\u003c\/strong\u003e a budget floor for light infrastructure roles.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFair warning on cooling: CPUs above 120 W require the high-performance heatsink, and we ship it on any build with a 135 W or hotter CPU. A single-socket R730 is possible but halves your memory channels and PCIe lanes, so for anything beyond a light role we recommend both sockets populated. The eight-bay chassis has a slightly easier thermal budget than the 16-bay, which helps when you pair a top-bin CPU with a GPU.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eMemory\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e24 DDR4 DIMM slots, twelve per socket. The Grantley platform gives each E5-2600 v3\/v4 CPU four memory channels, so the slots populate at three DIMMs per channel (3 DPC). That is the architectural difference from the 14th-gen R740, which uses six channels at 2 DPC, and it shapes how speed behaves as the board fills.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTypes:\u003c\/strong\u003e RDIMM and LRDIMM. No Optane PMem on this platform; that arrives with the 14th-gen R740.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCapacity:\u003c\/strong\u003e 768 GB with 32 GB RDIMMs across all 24 slots, up to 1.5 TB with 64 GB LRDIMMs. 128 GB LRDIMMs go higher on v4 CPUs but are expensive and uncommon on the secondary market, so we quote them only on request.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSpeed by population:\u003c\/strong\u003e DDR4-2400 on v4 CPUs at one and two DIMMs per channel. Filling the third DIMM per channel steps RDIMMs down to 1866 MT\/s, so the largest 24-DIMM builds trade some bandwidth for footprint. v3 CPUs top out at 2133 MT\/s.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a general-purpose 8-bay host, 128 GB to 384 GB is the typical range; consolidation hosts run higher. We will steer you away from buying speed-grade DIMMs the CPU cannot clock anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eNetworking and PCIe Expansion\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNetworking is handled by the Dell rNDC (Network Daughter Card), a mezzanine slot that does not consume a PCIe slot. The rNDC options that show up on R730 units are 4x 1 GbE, 2x 10 GbE plus 2x 1 GbE, and 4x 10 GbE in SFP+ or BASE-T. For a virtualization host we treat 10 GbE as the practical floor and add a 25 GbE PCIe NIC when traffic justifies it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePCIe expansion is the headline advantage of this 2U chassis over the 1U R630. The R730 offers up to 7 PCIe Gen3 slots across three risers depending on riser configuration, in a mix of full-height and low-profile. On an eight-bay build, where the storage controller needs only one slot, that budget is free for real expansion:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA high-speed primary NIC plus a second NIC for storage, backup, or DMZ separation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn external SAS HBA or H830 for a JBOD shelf.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA GPU alongside production networking (covered below).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePCIe NVMe add-in cards for a hot tier, since the front bays are SAS and SATA only.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Fibre Channel HBA for SAN-attached deployments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hard ceiling to remember is Gen3: there are no Gen4 lanes on this platform.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eGPU Support\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe R730 is one of the few 13th-gen 2U platforms with a real GPU envelope, and the eight-bay chassis is the better host for it than the 16-bay, because fewer drives means more thermal and power headroom for the card. With the GPU-enabling riser, high-performance heatsinks, and higher-wattage PSUs it supports up to two single-width 70 W cards (NVIDIA T4) or one double-width accelerator:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1x or 2x NVIDIA T4 (70 W single-width):\u003c\/strong\u003e inference, light VDI acceleration, and video transcode within the standard thermal envelope.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1x NVIDIA P40 or P100 (double-width):\u003c\/strong\u003e AI and ML at platform-appropriate scale.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1x NVIDIA M60 or M10:\u003c\/strong\u003e legacy VDI graphics acceleration for fleets standardized on these cards.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGPU builds consume PCIe slots and push PSU sizing up, typically to 1100 W. The constraint is thermal, not electrical, so we verify the GPU, riser, and PSU combination at quote time. Modern Ampere and Hopper cards are not supported on this platform; for current-generation GPU work the R740 or R750 are the right hosts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eManagement - iDRAC8 Generation\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe R730 uses iDRAC8 with Lifecycle Controller. For production we specify iDRAC8 Enterprise for full remote KVM with virtual media, a dedicated management NIC, and agent-free monitoring. iDRAC8 Express is the lighter tier for lab or single-unit use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eiDRAC8 Enterprise:\u003c\/strong\u003e virtual console, virtual media, OpenManage Enterprise integration, and remote firmware management through Lifecycle Controller.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSecurity baseline:\u003c\/strong\u003e a TPM 1.2 or 2.0 module is available for measured boot and compliance frameworks.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe honest generational note is the same across the family: iDRAC8 predates Dell's Silicon Root of Trust, which is a 14th-gen iDRAC9 feature. If hardware-anchored firmware integrity is a hard requirement, that is a reason to step up to the R740.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePower and Cooling\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe R730 takes Dell Common Form Factor hot-plug redundant PSUs in 495 W, 750 W (Platinum or Titanium), 1100 W, and 1600 W ratings, in a 1+1 pair. An eight-bay build draws less than a loaded 16-bay, so PSU sizing is driven mostly by CPU choice and whether a GPU is present:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eConfiguration\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003ePSU recommendation\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eEst. peak draw\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eLight (single CPU, partial RAM, few SSDs)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e2x 495 W Platinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e~220 W\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBalanced (dual E5-2680 v4, 256 to 512 GB, 8 SSD, 10 GbE)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e2x 750 W Platinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e~420 W\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHeavy (dual high-TDP CPU, full RAM, 8 SSD plus one GPU)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e2x 1100 W Platinum\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e~750 W\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 750 W PSU covers most non-GPU production builds. Specify 1100 W for any GPU configuration or a fully loaded high-TDP, dense-memory node, and size up rather than run a supply near its ceiling under sustained load.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePhysical Specs and Platform Notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eForm factor:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2U rack chassis, roughly 684 mm deep without the bezel and about 715 mm with it. Budget additional depth for the optional cable management arm when planning rack and PDU clearance.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePCIe expansion:\u003c\/strong\u003e up to 7 PCIe Gen3 slots across three risers depending on riser configuration, in a mix of full-height and low-profile. The eight-bay build leaves most of that budget free for expansion.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eParts availability:\u003c\/strong\u003e excellent. The R730 is one of the most widely deployed 13th-gen platforms, so drives, PSUs, controllers, risers, and fans are plentiful on the secondary market. Dell ProSupport on 13th gen has reached end of service, so third-party maintenance is the standard production support path in 2026.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAccessories we recommend:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r530-r540-r730-r730xd-r740-2u-b6-ready-rails-ii-sliding-rail-kit\"\u003e2U B6 ReadyRails II sliding rail kit\u003c\/a\u003e for tool-less mounting, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r530-r730-r730xd-security-bezel\"\u003e13th-gen 2U security bezel\u003c\/a\u003e for physical drive security, and the cable management arm for a shared rack rear.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePlatform notes:\u003c\/strong\u003e CPU hot-plug is not supported. Hypervisor boot uses IDSDM or a dedicated front-bay mirror, since there is no BOSS card. Six hot-swap dual-rotor fans handle the standard cooling envelope; this is a datacenter-class machine, not an office-deployable one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eOur Assessment\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere it excels:\u003c\/strong\u003e balanced, general-purpose 2U virtualization and application serving at 13th-gen cost. This is the R730 for dev and test infrastructure that wants a GPU or external storage, CI\/CD build clusters that need a storage HBA alongside fast networking, virtualization hosts where GPU-accelerated VDI is part of the mix, and converged compute where the 2U envelope supports a CPU, a GPU, and storage together. Eight SFF bays is the right amount of flash for these roles, and the freed PCIe and thermal headroom is what makes the chassis genuinely flexible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere to look instead:\u003c\/strong\u003e if 1U rack density is the design driver, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r630-10-bay-chassis\"\u003eR630 10-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the companion. For many spindles per node, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-16-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 16-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the dense-SSD answer. For bulk capacity, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 8-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e takes LFF drives. And for a four-plus year horizon, iDRAC9 firmware integrity, faster memory, or modern GPUs, the 14th-gen \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r740-8-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR740 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the step up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBottom line:\u003c\/strong\u003e the R730 8-Bay 2.5\" is the default 2U R730 for a team that wants a flexible, expandable virtualization or app host now and is buying on a 13th-gen budget for a two to three year horizon. It is proven, widely supported, and easy to source parts for, and the eight-bay layout puts the chassis budget where most workloads actually need it. Buyers chasing five-plus year currency, Gen4, or current-generation GPUs should price the R740 or R750 first. At quote time we will put R730 and R740 pricing side by side so the generational decision is grounded in current cost.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhere the R730 8-Bay Fits in 2026\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe R730 is two Dell generations back: the 15th-gen R650 and R750 (Ice Lake-SP) and the 16th-gen R660 and R760 (Sapphire Rapids) sit ahead of it, with the 14th-gen R740 as the direct successor. That distance is what makes it attractive on price, and it remains a sound buy when the workload fits inside Gen3 expansion and a two to three year support horizon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the generation before it: the 12th-generation R720 is end of life. We treat the R730 as the practical floor for a dependable refurbished 2U build today and do not stock or recommend the R720 for new deployments, because parts support and platform currency have fallen too far. If budget is pushing you to look back a generation, the honest advice is to stay on the R730 rather than reach for the R720.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStepping forward, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r740-8-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR740 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e brings DDR4-2933 memory, iDRAC9 with Silicon Root of Trust, the PERC H740P with 8 GB cache, Optane PMem, BOSS boot, and support for modern GPUs. For a host you intend to run well past 2028, that is often the right call; for a node you will refresh inside three years, the R730 8-Bay delivers the same general-purpose capability for materially less.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHonest Limitations\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePCIe Gen3 and SAS\/SATA front bays only.\u003c\/strong\u003e No Gen4 lanes and no native front NVMe. For modern NVMe-class IOPS, this is an R650 or R750 conversation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eiDRAC8, not iDRAC9.\u003c\/strong\u003e No Silicon Root of Trust. For firmware-integrity-sensitive environments, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r740-8-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR740 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e is the answer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNo BOSS card.\u003c\/strong\u003e Boot consumes a front bay or uses the internal SD module. Plan the boot device into the bay budget up front.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGPU support is generation-bound.\u003c\/strong\u003e The platform takes Turing, Pascal, and Volta cards (T4, P40, P100, M60), not Ampere or Hopper. For current GPU workloads it is the wrong host.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAt most two single-width or one double-width GPU.\u003c\/strong\u003e For denser multi-GPU compute, the R730 is undersized.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMemory speed steps down at full population.\u003c\/strong\u003e The third DIMM per channel drops RDIMMs to 1866 MT\/s. Size for either capacity or bandwidth, not both.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA loaded 2U is heavy.\u003c\/strong\u003e A full build with eight SSDs, hot CPUs, full memory, and a GPU is a two-person lift above shoulder height.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOS support is narrowing.\u003c\/strong\u003e Confirm OS compatibility for any deployment horizon past 2026.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWorkload Fit\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eRight for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eConsider alternatives for\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBalanced 2U virtualization and app serving\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e1U rack density is the driver (use the R630 10-Bay)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDev\/test or VDI with a GPU (T4, P40)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eModern Ampere or Hopper GPUs (use the R740 or R750)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCI\/CD clusters needing a storage HBA plus fast NIC\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMany spindles per node (use the R730 16-Bay)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eConverged compute with CPU, GPU, and storage in 2U\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBulk LFF capacity (use the R730 8-Bay 3.5\")\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCost-driven 13th-gen builds with parts availability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFour-plus year horizons or iDRAC9 integrity (use the R740)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhere to Look Instead\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDense SSD on the same platform:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-16-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 16-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e for many spindles and dual-PERC sustained writes.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSpinning-disk capacity:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eR730 8-Bay 3.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e for large LFF NL-SAS drives.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMaximum 13th-gen storage density:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730xd-24-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR730xd 24-Bay 2.5\" + RFB\u003c\/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730xd-12-bay-3-5-chassis\"\u003eR730xd 12-Bay 3.5\" + RFB\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1U companion:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r630-10-bay-chassis\"\u003eR630 10-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e when density beats expansion.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCross-vendor equivalent:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/hp-proliant-dl380-g9-2-5-8-bay-server\"\u003eHPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e, the same Grantley-era 2U platform on HPE's side.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eStep up a generation:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r740-8-bay-2-5-chassis\"\u003eR740 8-Bay 2.5\"\u003c\/a\u003e for iDRAC9, H740P, DDR4-2933, modern GPUs, and a longer support horizon.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMounting hardware:\u003c\/strong\u003e the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/dell-poweredge-r530-r540-r730-r730xd-r740-2u-b6-ready-rails-ii-sliding-rail-kit\"\u003e2U B6 ReadyRails II rail kit\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eReady to Configure?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTell us your workload, target CPU, memory capacity, drive count and type, RAID level, GPU need (T4, P40, V100, or none), networking speed, and quantity, and we will build the quote around it. If you would like an R730 versus R740 8-Bay comparison at current secondary-market pricing, say so and we will return both with formal numbers so the generational call is informed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery Wholesale Servers R730 ships after a 12+ hour burn-in test covering every PCIe slot, every memory channel, and every drive bay, and carries a 180-day warranty with 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium options. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page, and note that volume pricing applies at 5 units and above.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45951275073735,"sku":"BP-012011","price":234.02,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0748\/4493\/0247\/files\/server-design-lab-dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-25-drives-711594.png?v=1765539695","url":"https:\/\/wholesaleservers.com\/products\/dell-poweredge-r730-8-bay-2-5-chassis","provider":"Wholesale Servers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}